Last month, the RHA released a report into the UK’s HGV Driver Workforce. This report stressed how critically dependent the UK economy is on HGV drivers, while outlining the ongoing challenges that the logistics sector faces in maintaining a sustainable driver workforce.
While I agree with the context that the RHA report outlines, its position on the role that the Skills Bootcamps in HGV Driving have played in successfully tackling these ongoing challenges was unduly negative.
HGVC is one of the leading providers of Skills Bootcamps in HGV Driving – an initiative launched in December 2021 by the Department for Education (DfE) in response to a chronic shortage of HGV drivers in the UK. We therefore understand the value of the Skills Bootcamps better than most. It is clear to me that the RHA report and media coverage missed some important aspects of the role this scheme has played.
Whilst the RHA report recommended that Skills Bootcamps continue beyond 2025, it caveated this recommendation by stating a view that Skills Bootcamps have contributed to a significant number of learners who either did not complete the course, or who gained their HGV licence but did not end up using it. They credit this issue to company reticence in taking on newly qualified drivers (an age-old problem in the UK). It’s a shame the RHA did not delve a little deeper into the detail, as in doing so, would have seen a very different story.
When executed in the right way, the Skills Bootcamp initiative has been transformative for companies large and small who wanted to close their HGV skills gap, but did not have the resource to do so. For these companies, the “right way” to utilise Skills Bootcamp funding was (and is) to upskill existing employees into driving roles, rather than take on newly-qualified drivers from outside their organisation.
By the end of February 2025, HGVC, the largest provider of HGV Skills Bootcamp for businesses, had partnered and delivered Bootcamp courses to a staggering 965 different UK companies – of which 838 were SMEs and 127 Enterprise firms. In the last 12 months, over 2,000 employees have been upskilled using our scheme alone and the statistics are astonishing. Over 85% of starters end up with a licence and incredibly, 98% of those who obtain their HGV licence end up in an HGV driving role with their employer. These numbers are off the scale and represent the most successful government scheme I have ever witnessed, in terms of its ability to upskill people in large numbers, then get them into the work they were trained for.
One of the reasons Skills Bootcamps have been so successful is because of how laser focused the funding has been. SMEs (250 employees or less) get a 90% subsidy on training, whereas larger companies get a 70% subsidy. This is a significant amount! But it has clearly worked. SMEs have been queuing up to upskill their staff, and the Skills Bootcamps have greased the cogs of Enterprise companies and got them to focus on their medium- and longer-term needs, instead of just their next quarter’s P&L.
The training has also been so successful because it is a short course - a maximum of 16 weeks - and includes the funding requirement that the employee must go into a driving role within six months of qualifying, so there is no wasted training. Employers have leapt at the opportunity to take advantage of this funding in a way that cumbersome and lengthy HGV apprenticeships have never been able to do.
I am firmly of the belief that HGV licence acquisition is so important to the UK’s ambition for growth, housebuilding, and energy and food security that it needs to continue to be government funded in the same way that teachers, plumbers and nurses are. And it is clear that the most effective way for the funding to be delivered is though companies upskilling their employees via Skills Bootcamps in HGV driving. Without funding, companies will go back to their old ways - giving employees little opportunity to progress and upskill, and this in turn will deepen the UK’s chronic HGV driver shortage and stifle the government’s ambition for growth.
Logistics UK’s latest Skills and Employment Update showed that between Q3 2023 and Q3 2024, the number of HGV drivers employed rose by 20.9% – an increase of nearly 55,000. However, despite this growth, the report identified that: ‘long-standing employment challenges persist, including an ageing workforce, infrastructure dissatisfaction, and limited new drivers entering the profession’.
The RHA report agrees, stating, “the logistics sector faces significant structural challenges, including recruitment and retention of drivers and an ageing workforce that threaten economic stability and supply chain resilience.”
Clearly the situation has improved since the empty shelves and fuel forecourts of Autumn 2021. But the sector still requires a positive and sustained intervention to ensure that systemic issues do not lead to a significant curb on growth, ambition and productivity in the UK.
If we are to get Britain’s economy moving, we need a sustainable HGV driver workforce. The Skills Bootcamps in HGV Driving have proven to be an invaluable source – particularly for businesses that have been able to expand their operations by upskilling existing employees.
It is more important than ever that the valuable role they have played is accurately represented.
James Clifford, chief executive, HGVC
